HOUSTON – A Houston Fire Department captain accused of banging his wife's head against the hood of a car appeared in court Monday.
Houston police said the incident happened after an evening of drinking.
It’s the second time he’s been charged with assaulting a woman in just over a year.
Police said Capt. Jason Archibald, 38, and his wife, Jennifer, went bar-hopping Thursday evening at three midtown bars: Lil Woodrow’s, Irish Cowboy and Pub Fiction.
Around 8:55 p.m., as the couple waited in the 2200 block of Bagby for an Uber driver to take them home, they began to argue, police said.
According to court records, Kevin McCauley, who lives in a nearby apartment, called 911 after he heard yelling and looked out his window to see Archibald repeatedly slam his wife’s head into McCauley’s parked car with enough force to damage the hood.
Police arrested Archibald and charged him with misdemeanor assault of a family member and criminal mischief.
Archibald's bond is set at $10,000. During the brief court appearance Monday, a judge ordered that he have no contact with his wife.
In February 2017, Archibald was charged with assaulting another woman, a family friend, at his home in Deer Park during another argument with his wife.
Sheyla Gamino told KPRC2 that Archibald and her husband had been out drinking that night, and when they arrived at the house, Archibald began quarreling with his wife.
During the argument, Gamino said Archibald became angry at her, and threw a beer bottle that hit her in the arm. She said Archibald then began fighting with her husband after he stepped in to protect her, leaving him with a cut on his head that required seven surgical staples to close.
Archibald was granted pretrial intervention on that charge, agreeing not to commit further offenses, not to abuse alcohol, and agree to supervision for a year in exchange for having the charge dismissed.
According to Channel 2's legal analyst, Brian Wice, Archibald’s arrest Thursday negates the agreement. Prosecutors could now move to try Archibald on the earlier assault charge as well as the latest charges.
The two assault charges are Class A misdemeanors that each carry a punishment of up to two years in the county jail.
HFD spokesperson Sheldra Bringham said Archibald is currently under administrative investigation following his latest arrest.